Additional information for The Miracle Worker, which has a domestic theatrical release set for July 28, 1962. The film is being distributed by United Artists and has not yet been rated. The Miracle Worker has a total running time of 106 minutes.
Atp
Argentina
PG
Australia
K-8
Finland
All
South Korea
12
West Germany
Approved
USA
106min
98min
Ana de los milagros
Argentina
Ana de los milagros
Mexico
Ana de los milagros
Peru
La maestra milagrosa
Mexico
La maestra milagrosa
Peru
La maestra milagrosa
Venezuela
Licht im Dunkel
Austria
Licht im Dunkel
West Germany
O Milagre de Anne Sullivan
Brazil
O Milagre de Anne Sullivan
Portugal
A csodatevő
Hungary
Anna dei miracoli
Italy
Cudotwórczyni
Poland
El milagro de Ana Sullivan
Spain
Helen Kellers triumf
Denmark
Ihmeidentekijä
Finland
Karanligin içinden
Turkey
Miracle en Alabama
France
To thavma tis Annie Sullivan
Greece
Unter anderer Sonne
West Germany
May 23, 1962
USA
July 28, 1962
USA
September 20, 1962
Spain
October 10, 1962
France
November 27, 1962
Denmark
November 29, 1962
Hong Kong
December 19, 1962
Sweden
January 31, 1963
Italy
February 15, 1963
West Germany
April 26, 1963
Austria
May 03, 1963
Finland
October 12, 1963
Japan
October 09, 1964
East Germany
November 04, 1972
Japan
March 27, 2002
France
February 10, 2007
Germany
April 20, 2007
Greece
October 11, 2009
South Korea
No taglines exist for this title.
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
One night in 1882, at the Alabama home of Captain and Mrs. Keller, a doctor examines a baby in a crib while her parents stand anxiously by. At last he smiles, and tells them the crisis has passed, she will recover from the illness. Her parents respond with joy and relief. Captain Keller (Victor Jory) goes with the doctor to show him out; Mrs. Keller (Inga Swenson) stays with the baby, smiling, talking, gently tucking the covers around her. Something about the baby's face catches her attention. She is at first puzzled, then frightened. She calls out for Captain Keller, who returns at a run. She blurts out her fears to him, he grabs up the lantern, and waves it before the baby's eyes, and screams her name to get a reaction...all without result. Baby Helen is now irrevocably blind and deaf.By 1887, Helen (Patty Duke) has grown into a healthy but extremely difficult child. The adults in the household--Helen's parents, her Great Aunt Ev (Kathleen Comegys), her older half-brother James (Andrew Prine) and the domestic help--have all given up trying to communicate with her or control her. She is allowed to wander wherever she wants, and do as she pleases. But after an incident in which she tips her new baby sister violently out of her cradle so she can use it for her doll, it is clear something must be done about her soon. Mrs. Keller can't bear to have her shut up in an asylum, so Captain Keller reluctantly agrees to find a teacher/companion for her. Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a 20 year old Irish-American girl, newly graduated from the Perkins Institute for the Blind in South Boston, is recommended for the position. She is still recovering from a series of operations that have only partially restored her vision, she has a reputation for being stubborn and is haunted by a tragic past. But she has a plan, and is greatly determined to make a place for herself in the world, and a better world for her new student.At the Keller's home, her first meeting with Helen is promising. She quickly recognizes Helen's intelligence and curiosity. She has brought a doll for the little girl and Helen is delighted with it. Annie seizes the opportunity to introduce Helen to the alphabet for the deaf by spelling the word "doll" against Helen's palm. Intrigued, Helen spells it back to her, imitating the letters perfectly. Pleased, Annie tries another word...but Helen is more interested in the doll than the new finger game. Annie makes the mistake of trying to take the doll away from her, and Helen uses the doll to lambaste her in the mouth. While Annie is surveying the damage, Helen quickly locks her in the bedroom, takes the key and runs away.Annie is able to get her employers' attention and alert them to her dilemma. In the uproar that follows, Mrs. Keller searches Helen for the key, but doesn't find it; Captain Keller decides the best way to effect a rescue is to put a ladder up to the bedroom window, climb up it, and carry Annie back down. Despite Annie's protests that she can climb down herself, she makes the descent seated precariously on Captain Keller's shoulder. Crisis resolved at last, Captain Keller orders everyone back inside to sit down to lunch.Annie stays behind for a moment or two to watch Helen, who is sitting quietly by the water pump, on the well cover, holding her doll. After a moment, she gets up and carefully feels around for anyone else who might still be present. At last, satisfied that she's alone, she takes the key to Annie's bedroom door out of her mouth, and drops it into the well through a crack in the well cover. Annie observes this with mingled amusement and irritation...and she promises Helen (and herself) that she won't be gotten rid of so easily.Next day at breakfast, Annie watches in disgust as Helen wanders about the table, taking food from each person's plate with her hands, and cramming it into her mouth. The adults pay no attention to her, obviously accustomed to this behavior. When Helen reaches for Annie's plate, Annie quietly fends off her hand. Helen is shocked at first, considers what has happened--and reaches again, all the more determined to take something from this stranger's plate. A scuffle ensues...Captain Keller intercedes, explaining to Annie that they've found this to be the easiest course, and the only way they can have a relatively civilized meal. Annie decides it's high time to begin her student's lessons. She chases the family out of the room, and the battle is on. It's a long and violent process...Helen is as determined as Annie, and both girls know this is more than just a fight about plates and napkins. After a struggle which lasts into the afternoon and leaves both girls battered and bruised, Annie emerges as the victor...barely. Helen runs to her mother for comfort, and Mrs. Keller angrily asks Annie what happened. "She ate from her own plate," says Annie, softly. "She ate with a spoon. Herself. And she folded her napkin." Mrs. Keller receives this news in wonder, seeing some hope for Helen for the first time.Captain Keller is in a thundering rage. He wants that "half-blind Yankee schoolgirl" gone immediately, but Mrs. Keller persuades him to let her stay. Nevertheless, he tells her, there are a number of conditions that must be met. They call her in, and he begins to lay down the law, but Annie interrupts him. She tells them that she has no hope of being able to make any progress with Helen under the current circumstances. Mrs. Keller pleads with her not to give up on Helen. She tells her how bright Helen was when she was a baby...able to ask for water (to say wah-wah) at a very early age...and how heartbreaking it has been to feel her slipping further away with each passing year...and how like the lost lamb in the parable, she loves her all the more.Annie listens, not unsympathetically, but tells her bluntly that she thinks Helen's greatest handicap is not deafness and blindness, but her mother's love and pity. "Why, even a dog you housebreak," she finishes. She has been exploring the grounds, and has found a little cottage that isn't used, except during the hunting season. She asks that they furnish this cottage with a couple of beds, a table and a couple of chairs, and let the cook's young son, Percy (Robert Darden), sleep there to be available for errands. She instructs them to bring Helen there after a long buggy ride, and leave her there, completely in her care. "She must be dependent on me for everything...for food, for water...even for the very air she breathes," she says, because any of these might be an avenue through which she can reach her. Mrs. Keller eagerly agrees, and after a while so does Captain Keller, reluctantly...for one month only. After that, whether she has been able to teach her or not, they must both return to the main house.Preparations are made, and Helen arrives at the cottage. She is pleased to find some of her favorite toys and clothes waiting for her, in a basket in the middle of the floor. Then she has a sudden premonition of something amiss, and begins to make the sign she uses for her mother. They quickly withdraw, and as Helen gropes around the room, she encounters Annie. In rage and horror at being left with this hated person, Helen goes wild, trashing the house and its contents. Physically and emotionally exhausted, she finally falls asleep.Annie hits on a plan to get Helen to tolerate her: She brings Percy in from the other room. Helen recoils at first, but then recognizes Percy and is overjoyed to have him there. Annie sits on the other side of Percy, takes his hand, and begins to show him how to spell. When Helen discovers what's going on, she tries at first to keep Percy away from Annie, then curiosity overcomes her and she tries to "eavesdrop" on the new signs Annie is teaching. At last, consumed with jealousy, she pushes Percy out of the way, and holds up her own hand defiantly, to be taught the new signs herself. Annie signs the word "milk" against her palm, and she repeats it back to her. Annie gives her a glass of milk, and helps her into bed. Detente has been reached, and the work can begin.In the days that follow, Helen learns many new things...how to wash and dress herself, how to feed and clean up after herself...how to climb a tree, how to wade in a creek...how to play hide the thimble. She also learns many new words. But she still doesn't understand their significance, and in quiet moments it's clear she misses her mother and her old way of life.Mrs. Keller has been missing Helen, too. As previously agreed, she has come to the house each day to watch her without her knowledge, and to learn from Annie the alphabet Helen is learning. She is pleased with Helen's progress and shares Annie's hope that some spark of understanding will eventually ignite in Helen's brain. But the month Annie was given to teach Helen without family interference is drawing to a close, and Mrs. Keller is not willing to persuade Captain Keller to extend it. On the last day, when Mrs. Keller comes for her, Annie must hand her over.She feels that she has failed. She watches sadly as Helen goes through the house, gathers up all the keys from all the doors, and takes them to her mother and puts them in her pocket...a gesture that clearly indicates she wants her mother to be in charge again, and everything to go back to the way it was. Captain Keller hands Annie a check for her first month's wages, with a little speech of congratulations and gratitude. Annie confides her fear to him, that Helen will slip back into her old habits, and asks his help to keep Helen to what she's learned. He readily agrees...and invites her to a special homecoming dinner for Helen, composed of all her favorite foods.They sit down, and grace is said, and Annie hands Helen her napkin...and watches as she drops it on the floor. She picks it up, and puts it on her lap...Helen removes it, and drops it on the floor again. Annie rises to take Helen from the table, but she flees to her mother for comfort. Mrs. Keller tries to smooth things over, saying that it's only a napkin, and not breakable. "And everything I've taught her is?" retorts Annie. Mrs. Keller finally relents, handing Helen over to Annie. But Captain Keller intervenes, saying there is no need to discipline the child on her first night back. He sits Helen down, and fills a plate for her, hands her a spoon, and goes back to his own place. Helen throws the spoon across the room, grabs a handful of food and tries to stuff it into her mouth. Annie grabs her and drags her away from the table. In the struggle that follows, the water pitcher is upset, and Annie grabs it, and drags Helen out to the pump, to make her refill it. Captain Keller begins to follow, intent on intervening again, but his way is blocked by his son, James...who finally finds the courage to tell him he is wrong...that he must back down and allow this Yankee girl to teach Helen the discipline she needs...so that she can go on learning.Outside, Annie makes Helen hold the pitcher under the pump, while she works the pump handle. As the cold water pours over the pitcher and Helen's hand, Annie automatically spells the word "water" against her free hand. "W-A-T-E-R, water," she says aloud, a lesson she has repeated many times. "It has a name, and the name stands for the thing..." She stops, noticing that Helen is standing transfixed, a look of profound realization dawning on her face. The pitcher drops from her hands and shatters. Something is coming to her out of the past. The water from the pump is dripping on her hands. "Wah.....Wah...." she says, with great difficulty...."Wah....Wah."The water has stopped flowing. Helen hits the faucett frantically, to indicate she wants it to flow again. Annie pumps, and the water flows over Helen's hands again. "Wah....Wah..." she says...and reaches for Annie's hand to spell the word against her palm. Annie puts Helen's hands on her face and nods to confirm that she is correct. Helen grabs the pump handle and pumps wildly herself, then holding Annie's hand under the stream of water, she spells the word against her palm again. With Helen's hands on her face, Annie nods again: this is, indeed, water.She knows! The spark has ignited, and now Helen knows! And suddenly she realizes that this is only the start...that there is much, much more for her to learn, and she wants to know it all, everything, all at once! In a frenzy, she runs around, dragging Annie after her, touching things and then holding out her hand for Annie to spell their names. Annie follows, spelling to her as fast as she can, and she calls out for Mrs. Keller to come out. When Helen bumps against her mother and father, Annie spells each of their names to her in turn, and Annie cries out to them jubilantly that Helen finally knows!As they embrace her, Annie goes back to sit by the pump on the well cover, overcome with emotion. After a few moments, Helen pulls free from her sobbing parents, and finds her way over to Annie. Shyly she points toward her...she wants to know her name...this wonderful stranger who has turned the light back on in her mind, and put the world into her hand. Annie spells the word "Teacher" against her palm. Helen goes back to her mother, reaches into her pocket for the door keys she cached there earlier. She spells "Teacher" against her mother's palm, and brings the keys back to Annie.Later that night, Annie sits alone in a rocker on the upper porch of the house. A door behind her opens, and Helen comes out to her. She kisses Annie and cuddles into her lap. Lost and found...combatants and companions ...rescuer and rescued...two turbulent souls at peace together at last.
Arthur Penn
Director(s)
William Gibson
William Gibson
Helen Keller
Writer(s)
Fred Coe
producer
Producer(s)
Laurence Rosenthal
Composer(s)
Annie Sullivan
Anne Bancroft
Captain Arthur Keller
Victor Jory
Kate Keller
Inga Swenson
James Keller
Andrew Prine
Aunt Ev
Kathleen Comegys
Helen Keller
Patty Duke
Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Maribel Ayuso
Martha at Age 10 (uncredited)
Dale Ellen Bethea
Admissions Officer (uncredited)
John Bliss
Doctor (uncredited)
Grant Code
Percy at Age 10 (uncredited)
Michael Darden
Annie at Age 10 (uncredited)
Michele Farr
2nd Crone (uncredited)
William F. Haddock
Mr. Anagnos of Perkins School in Boston (uncredited)
Jack Hollander
Jimmie at Age 8 (uncredited)
Alan Howard
1st Crone (uncredited)
Judith Lowry
3rd Crone (uncredited)
Helen Ludlam
Viney - Keller Maid (uncredited)
Beah Richards
Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Madge West
Director(s)
William Gibson
Helen Keller
Writer(s)
producer
Producer(s)
Composer(s)
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